German Chocolate Cupcakes with Coconut Almond Frosting

{Cupcake Week- Day 2}
I have never been much of a fan of that coconut frosting that generally comes with German Chocolate Cake, mainly because the only time I've tried it, it's been from a can. I love coconut to death, but that canned frosting kind of ruined my liking for German Chocolate Cake, I guess you can call me a frosting-nazi because I'm so particular about the frosting on cakes. Well, I am here to tell you that making your own coconut frosting is fast, easy, YUMMY, and most importantly--- you can pronounce all of the ingredients used to make it. My husband, the one who doesn't like cake, actually ate three of these in one sitting and absolutely raved about them! He even offered to take the rest to work with him so his co-workers could try them. That is no small compliment, my friends. Take it from him, they are delish, and will definitely satisfy that decadent chocolate craving you've been having.

Ingredients:
8-12 German Chocolate Cupcakes (either from a mix or from scratch)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 - 3/4 of a 7 oz. bag sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup chopped roasted almonds (you can generally buy them in the snack food isle)

Directions:
Once your cupcakes are completely cool, in a small sauce pan bring butter, sugar, evaporated milk and egg together over medium heat. Cook until thickened, about 12 minutes, stirring frequently. Once it's thickened up, remove from heat and add vanilla, coconut and almonds, stir until combined. Cool to room temperature before frosting cupcakes. Add chocolate flower for decoration once all the cupcakes have been frosted. (I found it was easier for the chocolate flowers to stand if the frosting was thicker in the center.)

Tutorial:
How to make chocolate flowers:
Things you'll need:
1/2 bag semisweet chocolate chips
microwave safe bowl
a piece of wax paper
a dinner plate (or any hard, flat surface that is easily transportable)
a zip-lock bag

Directions:
In a microwave safe bowl, melt down chocolate chips in 15 second intervals, stirring each time, until melted and smooth. Place wax paper on the back of a dinner plate (or the like), and make sure there is room in your freezer or refrigerator for the plate to lay flat.
Spoon melted chocolate into the zip-lock bag, and twist the top so no chocolate leaks over the top on to your hand. Snip one of the corners of the bag, about 1/8 of an inch, or as big or little as you'd like.
Pipe the chocolate on to the wax paper, making three long ovals all connected at one point, with the center oval being larger than the rest. Repeat. Make sure you make a few extras in case one or two break when removing them from the wax paper.

Place plate of flowers in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, or in the fridge for 20-30 minutes or until hardened.
To remove flowers from the wax paper, bend the paper near the flower and very carefully peel the flower off. It's okay if a few break, it happens. There ya go! You can experiment by making other funky designs with the chocolate, like stars or hearts... or whatever you can come up with!

Enjoy!

Source for frosting: Barbara Bakes